46 



not less than 235,000 bushels were brought to New York. It 

 is estimated that Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Carolina 

 have conjointly sent over 1,000,000 bushels to market in 

 1870. The yield, it is said, is from 80 to 120 bushels on an 

 acre. The seeds are slightly roasted for the table, or pressed 

 for a palatable oil. As much as 10s. to 12s. is paid for the 

 bushel in New York. The plant seems well eligible for forest 

 farms, particularly in a somewhat calcareous soil. In the 

 garden under my control I have reared it with ease. 



I intended to have spoken of the various implements 

 especially designed for wood-culture; but time will not admit 

 of it. Thus, merely by way of example, I place before you one 

 of those utensils the hohlborer, or, as it might be called, the 

 " bore-spade " brought into use nearly fifty years ago by a 

 scientific forester, Dr. Heyer of Giessen. Several thousand 

 plants of the Scotch fir and of other pines can be lifted with 

 this bore-spade in a day by one forest labourer, the object 

 being, that each seedling should retain a small earth-ball, to 

 facilitate the success of the moving process. About 10,000 

 such seedlings are conveyed at a time in a forest waggon.* 



As yet, it must be confessed, our colony, with others in the 

 Australian group, has accomplished but very little in any 

 branch of sylvan maintenance, or forest- culture, or the advance 

 of industrial pursuits in our woodlands. 



One precursory step, however, has been made, and this is 

 likely to be followed. I allude to the extensive gratuitous 

 distribution of plants to public grounds in most parts of our 

 colony a distribution which has been in operation under the 

 authority of Government from ground under my control for 

 the last twelve years. I should think it not unlikely, that this 

 raising of trees in masses will soon become also a special 

 object of attention to the Railway Department within its own 

 areas, to re-supply its own wants. 



While a divine may withdraw some of his slender means, or 

 a teacher may devote a share of his scanty earning, to enclose 

 the ground of his dwelling, with a view of protecting a few 

 trees on spots not really their own, we may be sure that the 

 authorities do not wish to see hundreds of miles of railway 

 fences long left unutilised, so far as planting of trees is con- 

 cerned, particularly as such fences for this purpose affords 



* Since this lecture was delivered, a short account of the bore- 

 spade has appeared in the Melbourne Economist. 



